False consensus effect
The tendency to overestimate how many people share our opinions, habits and values. We assume our own view is the normal one.
In everyday life
A voter is shocked when their candidate loses, because everyone they talked to planned to vote the same way.
You book a team lunch at a very spicy Thai place, sure that basically everyone loves heat as much as you do, and are surprised when half the team asks for something else.
Why your mind does this
To act at all, we need some belief that our choices matter and that we can pull them off. A bit of extra confidence gets us moving, keeps us going after setbacks, and protects our sense of self-worth and our standing in a group.
Its family, in 30 seconds: Confidence to act
How to spot it
Ask yourself whether you actually know what others think, or whether you are filling the gap with your own view.
How to counter it
Before assuming agreement, ask a few people directly, including some outside your usual circle.
Same family: Confidence to act
- Overconfidence effect
- Social desirability bias
- Third-person effect
- False consensus effect
- Hard-easy effect
- Lake Wobegon effect
- Dunning-Kruger effect
- Egocentric bias
- Optimism bias
- Forer effect
- Barnum effect
- Self-serving bias
- Actor-observer bias
- Illusion of control
- Illusory superiority
- Fundamental attribution error
- Defensive attribution hypothesis
- Trait ascription bias
- Effort justification
- Risk compensation
- Peltzman effect